The Draper's Meadows Settlement (1746-1756) Part II

Ryans. Mays

Located in the New River Valley in what is now Montgomery County, Virginia, the Draper's Meadows settlement was one of the earliest Euro-American settlements in the colonial Virginia backcountry. Its first known settlers were George and Eleanor Draper and their children, John and Mary, who arrived apparently in the year 1746. Part I of this article focused primarily on the history of the Draper family. 1 Part II continues the story of the Drapers but presents more information about the larger Draper's Meadows settlement through the year 1756, at which time it was more or less abandoned until after the French and Indian War (l 754-1763).

George Draper and Family in Pennsylvania (1730s) Since the publication of Part I, an interesting and significant new record

of the Draper family in Pennsylvania was presented to the author,2 who transmits it here as a supplement to the information he reported in Part 1:3

In a petition to the Chester County Court dated 28 August 1739, 4 George Draper "ofthe Township ofNewton" applied for a license to keep a "Public House ofEntertainment" for travelers along the road from Paxton Township to Philadelphia that passed through his property. None of the petition appears to have actually been handwritten by George Draper himself, as the handwriting does not match that found on other documents known to have been written by Draper (see Part I). Instead, it was probably written and signed for Draper, perhaps by the county clerk, and it was on this document, below the petition, that Draper's neighbors (themselves) also signed their names as subscribers to the petition. This petition is printed here for the first time from the author's transcription (see Appendix). The document is particularly significant because in it Draper describes having first leased and then settled his land in Newton Township in 1734.

Further Records of Eleanor Draper (1749-1752) George Draper had died by May 1749.5 The author has found no

primary source records mentioning the cause of George's death, where he

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died, or where he was buried. His wife, Eleanor, appears to have remained a widow, and she continued living at Draper's Meadows, in what was then Augusta County, Virginia, with her children, John and Mary. Apart from the 1749-1750 lawsuit, John Baird (Beard) vs. Eleanor Draper, Administratrix ofGeorge Draper, 6 described in Part I, there are only a few other surviving records of Eleanor before her own death at Draper's Meadows in 1755.

As was reported in Part I, George Draper transacted business in 1745 and 1746 with a man named James Conly, who was murdered in 1751 by his servant.7 Augusta County Court ordered that James Nealy, Richard Hall, Thomas Inglish (Ingles), and Tobias Bright, or any three of them, inventory and appraise Conly's estate, but the location of his residence was not mentioned. Ingles, Hall, and Bright returned their appraisement to the court on 21 May 1752. 8 Conly's administrator, George Breckenridge, conducted a sale of the estate in early 1753.9

In late 1751 or early 1752, Eleanor Draper brought suit against John Conly and George Breckenridge (the latter being James Conly's administrator) complaining that James and John Conly had owed her £ 19 since 1749. She submitted as evidence a promissory note for the sum, upon which James and John Conly had signed their marks "at the Parish ofAugusta [County]" on 12 September 1749. According to the agreement, they were to pay their debt to Eleanor by the first of September 1750. The note was witnessed (signed) by Thomas Ingles and Mathew Ingles and perhaps written by one of them, since Eleanor and the Conlys were apparently illiterate. Little else is known about the lawsuit except that George Breckenridge was brought into custody by deputy sheriff, William Lusk, after a warrant was issued for his arrest in January 1752. The case was dismissed in August 1752, suggesting that some settlement was reached. 10

Also in 1751or1752, Colonel John Buchanan (d. 1769) composed a list of the surveys he had made on the Western Waters (tributaries of the Mississippi River) since the mid-l 740s. To identify the 7,500-acre tract he had surveyed for James Patton & Company on Tom's and Strouble's creeks in 1747, Buchanan wrote that it was "wher[e] widow Draper Lives." 11

Conrad Eakerd Enters Lands at Draper's Meadows (1752) Another oblique reference to Eleanor Draper is found in a copy of

Conrad Eakerd's entry for "Land out of [the] tract where Dreaper [Draper] Lives." 12 Colonel Buchanan made a record of this entry on 13 February 1752, so "where Draper lives" was apparently again used to describe the 7 ,500-acre tract in which Eleanor Draper was then living. There is a tear on the page where Buchanan noted Eakerd's desired acreage. However, the

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THE DRAPER 's MEADOWS SETTLEMENT ( 1746-1756) PART II

same entry was also recorded by William Preston on 13 February 1752 in the Wood's River Land Entry Book, and here Preston noted that "Coonrod Eakerd Entred 2000 acres of Land out of the tract where Draper Lives" at the rate of £10 per 100 acres, he paying the surveyor's fees and charges for surveying the land. He was to settle the land that spring where Colonel Buchanan directed and then pay the money within two years, with interest beginning upon his date of settlement. Under this entry, Colonel James Patton wrote the following: "Conrad Eakerd desird [desired] us to tel Colnel paton he gave up that Bargain of Land on drapers survey & would not have it. [Signed] Adam herman [and] Jacob Harman." 13

For some reason, Conrad Eakerd left Augusta County by the summer of 1753. 14 It appears, however, that a tract of land was indeed surveyed for him, presumably in 1752 or early 1753. This is evident from the fact that when William Preston was surveying land in the spring of 1771, he made a transcript ofEakerd's old survey for his records. 15 Although the original (circa 1752 document) has not survived, Preston noted in 1771 that he had made a copy of "The Courses of The Tract formerly laid off for Coonrad Eakerd." Preston's copy may not be complete because he did not state whether the last course he listed was the closing course of the survey. Nevertheless, the tract appears to have measured approximately 600 acres, which was far short of the 2,000 acres for which Eakerd had made an entry (see Figure 1).

William Preston Surveys the Subdivisions of Draper's Meadows (January-February 1753)

Colonel John Buchanan had spent at least six years surveying tens of thousands of acres for James Patton & Company on the New, Holston, and Clinch River watersheds. In 1749, he married one of James Patton's daughters, and by about 1751, the year he completed his last surveys for the company, they had settled at what is now Max Meadows along Reed Creek, a tributary of the New River in present-day Wythe County, Virginia. 16

James Patton's nephew, William Preston ( 1729-1783 ), was officially commissioned a deputy surveyor of Augusta County under Thomas Lewis in November 1752, 17 although records indicate that he had been assisting John Buchanan and Patton's other surveyor, John Poage (d. 1789), both of whom surveyed illegally without licenses from the College of William and Mary, since probably 1746 or earlier. 18 Preston now resumed (legally) the surveying of land for his uncle on the Western Waters as well as on the Roanoke and James River watersheds.

It appears from Preston's survey book and a single surviving plat, that he surveyed the subdivisions of the 7,500-acre Draper's Meadows

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tract during the cold winter months of January and February 1753. His survey book is now preserved in the F. B. Kegley Library at Wytheville Community College; the single plat is at the Virginia Historical Society. 19 Unfortunately, the records Preston kept of his Draper's Meadows surveys are quite incomplete, for the metes and bounds (the land measurements) he put down in his survey book do not match perfectly those recorded later in the final deeds. In fact, surveys for only eight of the 18 known individuals who bought land at Draper's Meadows in 1754 are recorded in the survey book; a ninth is mentioned by name in the description of a corner of one of the other surveys. It therefore seems that Preston might have used this particular book intermittently, recording his field notes in yet another book that has been lost.

Nevertheless, that William Preston did complete probably all of the Draper's Meadows surveys and present their final plans to Thomas Lewis is fairly certain. His survey book shows clearly that he surveyed land on the Roanoke River through December 1752 before traveling west to Draper's Meadows. Who may have assisted him is unknown.

In his survey book, above the first of the tracts he surveyed at Draper's Meadows, Preston wrote "January 1753 Tom's Creek Survey." On only one other survey in this section of the book did he record a date, that being "12th Jany [January]," but the plat now at the Virginia Historical Society bears the date 10 February 1753. In addition to his notes on the subdivisions, Preston copied into the survey book the metes and bounds of Buchanan's original 1747 survey, which he titled "The notes of Draper's Survey on the west side of the Ridge that Divides Roanoke & new river Waters." Preston also copied them on the back of a list he made of surveys run out by John Poage and John Trimble (Thomas Lewis' other deputies) for Patton on the James and Roanoke rivers. This document is undated but was probably prepared in 1752 or 1753.20

James Patton Receives a Patent for Draper's Meadows (June 1753) and Sells Seventeen Land Parcels (February-March 1754)

Colonel James Patton received a patent for his 7 ,500-acre tract at Draper's Meadows from Governor Robert Dinwiddie on 20 June 1753 for the price of £37: 10:0.21 He no doubt felt great pride and satisfaction at having finally patented his largest survey on the Western Waters. And since his nephew had surveyed the tract's subdivisions earlier that year, Patton was ready to begin selling them.

Between 1 February and 21 March 1754, Patton signed the deeds of 17 subdivisions sold to 18 male settlers (see Table I below).22 The deed

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THE DRAPER 's MEADOWS SETTLEMENT ( 1746-1756) PART II

transactions were variously witnessed by (signed, sealed, and delivered in the presence of) William Preston, "Jacob Harman," and "Adam Harman." The total acreage was 6,617 acres, sold for a sum of £701 :7:0 to be paid by the settlers, supposedly through quitrents and other means over time. The subdivision numbers correspond to numbers on the map of the settlement (see Figure 1 below):

Table 1. The Subdivisions of Draper's Meadows (1754)

Settler Acres Date ofPurchase Patent (Fee) Price Source

( 1) Adams, John 210 2 February 1754 25:0:0 ACDB 6:50-52

(2) Barger (Barrier), 507 10 February 1754 50:0:0 ACDB 6:93-95 Casper

(3) Byers, William 160 7 February 1754 20:0:0 ACDB 6:75-77

(4) Cook, John 190 7 February 1754 24:0:0 ACDB 6:72-75

(5) Draper, John 315 10 February 1754 25:5:0 ACDB 6:34-36

(6) Draper, John 440 9 February 1754 35:0:0 ACDB 6:37-39 and Ingles, William

(7) Harman, Jacob Jr. 625 2 February 1754 75:0:0 ACDB 6:69-72

(8) Ingles, William 255 10 February 1754 20:7:0 ACDB 6:31-33

(9) Kinder, Conrad 290 11 February 1754 35: 15:0 ACDB 6:87-89

(10) Kinder, Michael 200 2 February 1754 25:0:0 ACDB 6:52-56

( 11) Leppard, William 620 21 March 1754 70:0:0 ACDB 6:47-49

(12) Lingell, Jacob 280 10 February 1754 32:0:0 ACDB 6:60-63

(13) Lorton, Jacob 560 2 February 1754 79:0:0 ACDB 6:56-59

( 14) Loy, Martin 230 2 February 1754 30:0:0 ACDB 6:84-86

( 15) Price, Augustine, 1130 2 February 1754 80:0:0 ACDB 6:65--69 Daniel, and Henry

(16) Sharp, George 285 2 February 1754 35:0:0 ACDB 6:90-92

( 17) Sharp, Harness 320 2 February 1754 40:0:0 ACDB 6:42-46

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A Map and Survey Analysis of the Draper's Meadows Tract The Draper's Meadows settlement was located in a wide valley

between Brush and Price mountains. The head springs of both Tom's Creek and Stroub le 's Creek are located along the eastern border of the tract. These streams flow west through the valley toward their confluence with the New River, which flows about one mile west of the tract's western boundary.

Although John Buchanan's survey was reported as measuring approximately 7,500 acres, the author has determined that the Draper's Meadows tract actually measured approximately 10,000 acres. The first step in determining this was to transpose Buchanan's original 1747 plat for "7,500" acres over modern 7.5-minute scale United States Geological Survey topographic maps, after first re-drawing the plat to fit the scale of the map. The author's map was then checked against the earlier work of John Garrett, who had prepared a similar map in the l 980s.23 The author next used a computer program, ACME Planimeter, 24 to measure the area of the survey as it lay over the USGS map. This mapping of Draper's Meadows cannot be 100 percent accurate, but it represents possibly the most precise view of the tract to date.

The question arises: How is it that the survey is 10,000 acres in size when only 7,500 acres were reported? Needless to say, the colonial surveyors had none of the fine-tuned land measuring devices and surveying technologies available to modem surveyors. It is remarkable that they achieved as much as they did, and, understandably, errors were common in the early surveys. However, an error on the scale of 2,500 acres probably cannot be explained solely by the use of poor instruments or faulty calculations made in the field or later at the desk. Instead, the discrepancy revealed here suggests that Buchanan and Patton may have intentionally reported the survey as containing far less acreage than it actually did contain. To pay fewer quitrents (taxes) on the land would have been the most likely reason for doing so. Although Draper's Meadows could be an isolated case, there is indeed evidence that Buchanan and Patton also "decreased" the acreage of several other large tracts surveyed for the company. 25

The author has not attempted to measure all of the 1754 subdivisions of the 10,000-acre Draper's Meadows tract that were surveyed by William Preston. However, he did measure the "1, 130-acre" Price tract and found that it is approximately 1,450 acres in size. It would not be surprising if the other parcels are also larger than reported.

The map of the Draper's Meadows tract presented in this article (Figure 1) is the result of many years of careful work studying the primary source records on the part of Frederick B. Kegley, Mary B. Kegley, J. R.

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NORTH

Figure 1. Colonel James Patton's 7,500 (ca. 10,000)-acre tract "at a place called Draper's" (Draper's Meadows), surveyed by Colonel John Buchanan on 21 October 174 7. The specific subdivisions (lots) 1 through 17 (labeled with circled numbers) were surveyed in the winter of 1753 by William Preston and sold by James Patton to 18 settlers in early 1754 (see corresponding list in Table 1 above). Number 18 in parenthesis is the tract surveyed ca. 1752 for Conrad Eakerd, who abandoned it in 1753. The metes and bounds of Eakerd's survey were found in William Preston's records of 1771. Areas on the map without numbers represent lands not surveyed or divided up and sold to anyone until after the French and Indian War.

The following is a key to the map: (1) Adams, John-210 acres; (2) Barger (Barrier), Casper-507; (3) Byers, William-160; (4) Cook, John-190; (5) Draper, John-315 (6) Draper, John and Ingles, William-440; (7) Harman, Jacob Jr.-625; (8) Ingles, William-255; (9) Kinder, Conrad-290; ( 10) Kinder, Michael-200; ( 11) Leppard, William-620; ( 12) Lingell, Jacob-280; (13) Lorton, Jacob-560; ( 14) Loy, Martin-230; ( 15) Price, Augustine, Daniel, and Henry- I, 130; (16) Sharp, George-285; (17) Sharp, Hamess-320; (18) Conrad Eakerd (acreage unknown).

The author drew the survey plats in 2014 over the following U.S. Geological Survey 7.5-minute scale topographic map quadrangles: Blacksburg, 1965 (photo-revised 1983); Newport, 1998; Radford South, 1998. These were the most recently published maps available.

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Hilderbrand, John Garrett, Sara B. Keough, Blaine Adams, Hugh Campbell, and the author. 26 The map was drawn by the author based on these combined efforts. The perimeter boundaries of the tract are those measured by John Buchanan in 174727 (see Figure 3 in Part I), and the subdivisions are based on the metes and bounds of William Preston's 1753 surveys as officially reported in the deeds of 1754. Later deeds for land sold in the Draper's Meadows area through about 1800 were also consulted.

The Natural Environment of the Draper's Meadows Tract We should briefly reflect on what the natural environment at Draper's

Meadows must have been like in the 1740s and 1750s. So much has changed in over 260 years that apart from its general topography, much of the land would probably be scarcely recognizable to its first inhabitants if they could see it today.

For example, when John Buchanan and William Preston made their surveys, probably 80 percent of the land was heavily forested. This was an ancient and beautiful forest with many large trees, including American chestnuts. As is typical of the few meager, fragmented tracts of old-growth forest remaining in southwest Virginia today, the understory ofthis great forest was probably fairly open-certainly not chocked with invasive exotic species such as multiflora rose, honeysuckle, and privet. In the lowgrounds along streams, beaver-damming activities through the years had created many small glades and meadows. Indeed, beaver dams, glades, and meadows are noted specifically at several corners of Buchanan's and Preston's surveys. American Indians had lived in the region for thousands of years and were probably also responsible for having created small clearings. The Indians may have used fire to some extent to clear undergrowth in portions of the forests, 28 yet their impact was perhaps relatively negligible when compared to the large-scale deforestation and destructive building projects wrought on the landscape by Euro-Americans, starting especially during the nineteenth century.

Draper's Meadows was also home to a great abundance of animals, including some species that are now rare, extirpated from the region, or even extinct, such as passenger pigeons (extinct species), elk, buffalo, mountain lions, and gray wolves. A lick, or mineral spring, which such animals had visited for perhaps hundreds of years, was even noted by William Preston as being located at or near the site of the modern-day, artificial "Duck Pond" on the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (VPI & SU) campus.29 Preston further noted that a branch of Strouble's Creek was called the Lick Run, probably because this same lick was alongside it. This and other head branches of Strouble's Creek that once flowed through

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THE DRAPER 's MEADOWS SEnLEME~T (1746-1756) PART II

the Ingles, Barger, and Leppard tracts now run underground through large concrete culverts to make room for the buildings and parking lots ofVPI & SU and the Town of Blacksburg. For instance, what was described in 1928 as a "monster grading and draining task" changed the course of Strouble's Creek to make way for the VPI & SU Drillfield.30

The Draper's Meadows of the mid-eighteenth century is long gone, but it is important to remember what has been lost and appreciate all the more what remains of this fragile environment.

Sketches of the Draper's Meadows Settlers In this section are brief biographical sketches of the first settlers of

Draper's Meadows. Very little is known for certain about most of these people. Although their names sometimes appear often in the early records, only those records that most definitely refer to the individuals living or owning land at Draper's Meadows are reported here. In several cases the author has decided to cite records that have been placed on Internet genealogical websites. These online records are not well-substantiated by primary source data and should be regarded with great skepticism, but they do at least provide pathways for further investigation. Additional information about some of the settlers and the larger Draper's Meadows community can be found in Frederick B. Kegley and Mary B. Kegley's 1980 book Early Adventurers on the Western Waters (Volume 1) and in Turk McCleskey's chapter "The Price ofConformity," in the book Diversity and Accommodation: Essays on the Cultural Composition of the Virginia Frontier (1997).31

The following list is arranged in alphabetical order according to the surnames of the men who purchased the subdivisions from James Patton in I 754 (see Table 1 above):

(I) Adams, John-On I 0 February 1753, William Preston surveyed a tract of 420 acres for John Adams and John Crapps. 32 The 210 acres that Adams purchased in 1754 from James Patton included part of the original 420-acre tract. The author has found no additional records of John Crapps, but on 15 August 1753, Adam Harman Sr. and Adam Harman Jr. were accused of beating and abusing John Adams.33 According to papers in the judgment file of this case at Augusta County Courthouse, the assault took place on 16 April 1753.34 Because Adam Harman Sr. was a resident of land along lower Tom's Creek and the New River,35 this record suggests that Adams lived on his own land farther up Tom's Creek at Draper's Meadows. Adams appears to have abandoned his 2 I 0-acre tract during the French and Indian War.

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RYAN s. MAYS (2) Barger (Barrier), Casper-The author has found very little

primary source documentation about Casper (or Gasper) Barger.36 He is said to have been born in Germany in 1708 and arrived aboard the ship Winter Galley in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on 5 September 1738.37 James Patton sold him 507 acres in 1754; this land included part of what is now the heart of the campus of VPI & SU.38 Barger was killed by Indians, presumably at Draper's Meadows, during the 30 July 1755 massacre, but his burial site is unknown.39 Patton had written a receipt sometime prior to that date for having "[r ]eceived of Gasper barrier two Bushel [of] flower [flour] one of wheate [and] two bushel Indian com for George willson."40 Barger evidently died intestate because his widow, Margaret, was administratrix of his estate in 1760, with sureties Christopher Vineyard and Lawrence Hunstman.41 George Trout, William Kear, and George Peterson conducted his estate appraisal the same year. 42 This estate was apparently somewhere in the Shenandoah Valley-not at Draper's Meadows.43 Although a man named Phillip Barger (Barrier) later lived on Casper Barger's 507-acre tract, his exact relationship to Casper Barger has not been definitely established, yet he was probably the son of Casper and Margaret Barger.44

Hopefully more definite information about Casper Barger will someday come to light. For the time being, it seems beyond question that Casper did live at least for a short time at Draper's Meadows on his 507 acres. Interestingly, "Widow Barier" paid quitrents on the land after her husband's death each year from 1755 to 1760.45 Colonel John Buchanan recorded on 18 October 1765 that he received "from Margret Barrier the sum of six [poun ]ds ten shills. [shillings] in part of accot. [account] asigned to me pr [William Le]pard" and in August 1766 that he had received five pounds from her "on acct. of accot. asign[ ed] pr William Lepe rd."46

(3) Byers, William-James Patton sold 160 acres to William Byers in February 1754. A few days later, Jacob Harman Jr. sold 170 acres from his 625-acre tract to Byers.47 It is possible that Byers did not actually live at Draper's Meadows since a William Byers was ordered to help clear a road in March 1754 on the North River, a tributary of the James River in central Virginia now called the Maury.48

(4) Cook, John-Almost nothing is known of John Cook except that he purchased 190 acres at Draper's Meadows from James Patton in 1754 and was said to have been killed by Indians somewhere along the New River on 3 July 1755, suggesting that he had lived for a time at Draper's Meadows.49 His land was evidently abandoned until after the French and Indian War.

(5) Draper, John-According to John P. Hale,50 John Draper was born in 1730 in Pennsylvania. He was the son of the Irish immigrants George and

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THE DRAPER'S MEADOWS SETILEMENT (1746-1756) PART II

Eleanor Draper, the founders ofDraper's Meadows, and the brother ofMary (later Mary Draper Ingles). He was not yet 21 years of age when Eleanor was appointed administratrix ofher husband's estate in 1749.51 Since there is no evidence that the Draper family moved away from their settlement at Draper's Meadows following George's death, John Draper presumably continued living there with his mother at the cabin he had probably helped his father build around 1746. Although Thomas Lewis had surveyed in 1747 a 275-acre tract of land for John Draper in what is now Pulaski County, Virginia, there is no documentation of Draper ever having lived there himself. John Draper sold the land to John Die in 1754 at the same time he purchased two tracts from James Patton at Draper's Meadows on the headwaters of Strouble's Creek.52 In April 1754, he married Elizabeth (Bettie) Robinson. 53 On 30 July 1755, their first child was killed by Indians at Draper's Meadows and Bettie was abducted.54 John ransomed her about 1760 and they moved to Draper's Valley in what is now western Pulaski County, where they raised at least seven children. Bettie Draper's date of death is unknown, but it is recorded that John Draper married a widow, Jane Crockett, probably in the 1770s. John had died at his home in Draper's Valley by early 1824. 55

(6) Harman, Jacob Jr.-Jacob Harman Jr. was the son of Jacob Harman Sr., who is said to have been born in Germany about 1705.56 Jacob Harman Jr. is thought to have been born before 1731.57 Jacob Harman Sr. lived at the Horseshoe Bottom on land now owned by the Radford Army Ammunition Plant in Pulaski County, Virginia; he and his family appear to have settled at this location by 1745.58 "Jacob Harman" (perhaps Jacob Harman Jr.) was commissioned cornet in the Augusta County militia on 19 August 1752.59 James Patton sold 625 acres to Jacob Harman Jr. in February 1754. Harman sold 170 acres from this tract to William Byers in 1754, and he and his wife Sarah sold the remaining 455 acres to Joseph McDonald in 1768.60 William Preston's account book of quitrents shows that Jacob Harman Jr. had made payments on the land from 1755 through 1760.61 Preston wrote that Jacob Harman Sr. and Jacob Harman Jr. were killed in 1756,62 but it is quite certain from the 1768 deed that Jacob Harman Jr. was still living in 1768. A Jacob Harman Sr., whose wife was "Catrina," wrote his will on 18 September 1761.63 He mentioned his son Jacob Harman and several other children, including a grandchild "Madlina Price" (see Henry Price sketch below), and property around the Peaked Mountain-what is now called Massanutten Mountain in present-day Rockingham County, Virginia.64 This suggests that the Jacob Harman Sr., who once lived on the New River, was by 1761 living on the Shenandoah River in what is now

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Rockingham County. An inventory of Jacob Harman Sr. 's estate was made in May 1764.65

Jacob Harman Jr. married Sarah Lorton, probably the daughter of Israel Lorton (discussed in Part I); their marriage license was issued on 15 June 1751.66 An account of "Jacob Harman Jr." to Andrew Johnston, who was a merchant, "[e]xcepted this the 141h Day of March 1755 [by] Andw Johnston" proves that Jacob Harman Jr. 's wife was Sarah Lorton (see the final debit entries below). 67 The debit and credit transactions recorded in this remarkable account, covering the period between 17 May (probably 1750) and 12 May 1751, provide significant information about the kinds of interesting goods that were available to the settlers of Draper's Meadows and elsewhere in the New River Valley at that time. All items listed here would have been greatly valued as possessions by Harman and his family, so we should take time to read the list carefully. The following is a slightly abridged version:

[Undated]-To cash £1 :4:0; 17 May [1750]---one hank of silk, 24 flints, 4 lb of powder, 8 lb of lead, I Y4 yard [of material not listed]; 8 lb of powder; 22 August [1750]-4 yards of Holland [fabric], one knife, I China handkerchief; one [purse?]; one scarlet cloak, ribbon, one bell, one pack of cards, six yards of broadcloth, red shalloon, 24 coat buttons, 12 breast buttons, one yard of buckram [fabric], two hanks of silk, seven yards of flinen [flanen, i.e. flannel, a woolen fabric], six shirt buttons, three hanks of thread, 6 Y2 lb of lead, one [illegible] knife, 5 lbs of tobacco, 12 buttons, I pint of rum, cash £2:0:0, "swap of a Bridle [£]0:3:9"; 4 lbs of powder; 8 lbs of lead; I lb of pepper; [owed] to Robert Breckenridge [£]0:3: IO; 13 October 1750-1 Y2 yards of cotton; [owed] to Robert Breckenridge £0:2:7; one pair of shoe buckles; 6 February [1750]-6 lb of powder; "To Cash Sent by Israel Lorton [£]1:1:8"; 19 March [1750]-[owed] to Robert Breckenridge for the year 1749 £0:2:7 Yi; [owed] to Silos Ratliff £0: 12:9; 11 April 1751---one quire of paper; one felt hat; one pair of knee buckles; [owed] to "Wm Buchann" [£]3:4:3; 23 April 1750-3 yards of bed ticking (fabric); 3 Y2 yards of Irish Holland [fabric]; Y4 yard of cambric [cloth]; 12 pounds of lead; 12 May 1750-"To Cash paid at Mrs. [probably Eleanor] Drapers [ £]0: 11 :6"; [owed] to John McCurry Sr. [£]0: 15: 11; 500 pins; one knife and fork; 4 lbs of powder; I Y2 yards of cloth; [owed] "To Sarrah Lorton Your wife [£]2:3:8"; [owed] to Mr. Madison for a licence [license] £1 :5:0."

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THE DRAPER'S MEADOWS SETTLEMENT ( 1746-1756) PART II

Jacob Harman Jr. 's credit account, recorded on the opposite side of the page, was as follows:

"[Undated] 10 "Grey [deer] Skins"; 28 "Drest" [deerskins]; 5 elk skins; 15 February 1751-"By 52 Grey Skins wt. [weight] 205 lb at humphry Bakers [Humphrey Baker's] house for which I granted him my Note for the same which amounts£ 12: 16:3; 8 May 1751-one elk skin."

The total credit came to £21: 13:3 with a balance of£10:4:7 due Andrew Johnston, the combined total amounting to £31: 17: 10. It is noteworthy that Harman paid Johnston with deer and elk skins-the primary forms of currency, along with furs, of the early frontier settlers.

Where Jacob and Sarah Harman lived in the 1750s and 1760s is uncertain, but it seems reasonable to suppose that by 1754 they were living somewhere along Tom's Creek within the 455-acre tract that they later sold to Joseph McDonald. Jacob Harman Jr. is thought to have died after 1801 in Kentucky. 68

(7) Ingles, William-William Ingles was the son of Thomas Ingles, who is said to have immigrated to America from Ireland.69 William first appears in the historical records of southwest Virginia on 19 November 1746, when he was listed as a road worker on the Roanoke River. 70 Thomas Lewis surveyed 25 acres for him on 9 April 1748 on "Inglish Mill Creek," a branch of the South Fork of the Roanoke River in present-day Montgomery County.71 The location was about three miles east of the eastern border of the "7,500-acre" Draper's Meadows tract and was probably where Ingles was then living. William Ingles is said to have married Mary Draper in 1750, but there unfortunately appears to be no extant primary source record of their marriage. 72 Dr. Thomas Walker found William Ingles still living on the Roanoke River in March 1750 when he passed through the area on his famous exploratory expedition for the Loyal Land Company. 73 William and Mary Ingles must have settled together at Draper's Meadows sometime shortly afterward. They were probably living on the 255-acre tract in February 1754 when William purchased the land from James Patton. This tract adjoined John Draper's tract of 315 acres and a tract of 440 acres that William and John purchased jointly (see Figures l and 2). Mary was abducted by the Indians during the Draper's Meadows Massacre on 30 July 1755 but famously escaped and returned to Draper's Meadows on foot in November 1755.74 In 1762, William Ingles established a tavern and ferry on the New River near present-day Radford City. He and Mary continued to

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RYAN s. MAYS raise their family at this location, now known as Ingles Bottom, having sold their land at Draper's Meadows to William Preston. William died at Ingles Bottom in 1782 and Mary in 1815. William's birth date is not definitely known, but if Mary was born in 1732 she was approximately 83 years old when she died. 75

Figure 2. A closer view of the William Ingles and John Draper tracts of 255 and 315 acres, respectively, as also shown in Figure 1 above. To the right (southeast) of these tracts, and adjoining both, is the 440-acre tract which they purchased jointly. The 255 and 315-acre tracts, however, are probably where Ingles and Draper actually lived.

(8) Kinder, Conrad-Almost nothing is known about Conrad Kinder. His 290-acre tract, purchased on 11 February 1754, was listed as being resurveyed for Patton's executors, William Preston and William Thompson, in November 1779 because it was "lapsed land," for which no quitrents had been paid.76 Nevertheless, William Preston's reference to "Kinder's cabin" in his January 1753 surveying notes indicates that either Conrad or Michael (see below) lived at Draper's Meadows.77

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(9) Kinder, Michael-As with Conrad Kinder, almost nothing is known about Michael Kinder. He signed his mark on a promissory note to William Preston for 19 shillings on l February 1754.78 It was not recorded on the document for what this debt was to be paid. The 200 acres he purchased at Draper's Meadows from James Patton on 2 February 1754 was resurveyed as lapsed land in November 1779, indicating that it had been long abandoned. 79

( 10) Lingell (Lingle), Jacob-Jacob Lingell is said to have been born in 1708 in Germany and to have married Anna Urula Bankhard in 1736.80 It is unknown whether he actually lived for any period of time at Draper's Meadows on the 280 acres he purchased from Patton in 1754, but he evidently paid quitrents on the property for at least five years (through 1760).81 He and his wife "Ann" eventually sold this land to Peter and Stephen Conrad in 1769.82 Evidence that Jacob Lingell lived at Draper's Meadows in the early 1750s comes from a summons by Augusta County Court dated 3 September 1754, in which Lingell was called to testify on behalfofAdam Harman Sr. and Adam Harman Jr. in their 1753 lawsuit with John Adams, whom they had been accused of assaulting. "Jacob Lingal" was noted as being located "on New River" in the document. 83

(11) Lippard (Leppard), William-William Leppard may have been the "William Lieppert" who arrived in Philadelphia from Germany on 16 September 1738 aboard the ship Queen Elizabeth. 84 He seems to have lived for some period of time on the 620-acre tract he purchased from James Patton at Draper's Meadows in 1754. On 16 August 1753, Augusta County Court appointed Leppard to "be surveyor of the highway on New River in the room of [in place of] Adam Harman."85 A memorandum of this transfer of duty, possibly written in the hand of William Leppard but apparently signed in the hand of Adam Harman, reads as follows: "To the worshipfull Cort of agusta whare as I the sd Adam harman have sarved [as] over seer of the Rode one [on] the Rode [sic] betwend Cutelap[a] [Catawba] Creek and new River and now I Return In my place william Leeper. Adam hermo[ n]. "86 On 25 March 1754, Leppard was appointed overseer of a road ordered to be cleared from "Bingamans Ferry to the Waters of Roan Oak [Roanoke] near Tobias Brights as also from the Widow Drapers to Jacob Browns."87 Leppard's 620 acres were bought by Samuel Black in 1772.88 Interestingly, there was also an earlier deed from James Patton to William Leppard for "seventy five" acres of land adjoining the northern border of Leppard's 620-acre tract. 89 The deed is undated but it was presumably made out to Lepperd before Patton's death in 1755. In any case, the tract actually measured 175 acres, as determined when it was later resurveyed and sold

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in 1779 to Robert Greshem, who purchased it from William Preston and William Thompson (Patton's only acting executors by that time). 90

(12) Lorton, Jacob-Jacob Lorton was probably the son of Israel Lorton and therefore the brother of Sarah Lorton and brother-in-law ofJacob Harman Jr. (see Jacob Harman Jr. above). He was an administrator of Israel Lorton's estate in June 1752. In February 1754, he purchased 560 acres from James Patton on Tom's Creek. He married a widow, Lydia Elswick, about 1768 and they moved to land along Meadow Creek in present-day Montgomery County several miles southeast of Draper's Meadows. Jacob Lorton presumably lived on his 560-acre tract at Draper's Meadows before moving to Meadow Creek, but the dates of his occupancy there have yet to be positively established. In 1768, Jacob and Lydia Lorton sold the 560-acre tract to James Bane, and in 1770, Jacob sold a black slave to Michael Price. 91

(13) Loy, Martin-Martin Loy was probably born circa 1710 in Germany. He arrived in Philadelphia aboard the ship St. Mark on 26 September 1741 and is said to have married Catherine Faust (Foust) in either Berks or Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Although Martin Loy of Augusta County, Virginia, purchased 230 acres at Draper's Meadows from James Patton in 1754, the author has seen no records indicating that Loy and his family were actually settled there by that date. It seems possible that Martin visited his Draper's Meadows land at least once to inspect it, perhaps after having settled somewhere else in Augusta County (such as Beverley Manor near the town of Staunton). The Loys eventually moved to Orange County, North Carolina, where Martin wrote his will in July 1777. In it he mentioned his wife, "Catherriny," and children Mary, John, Henry, and George. His will was probated in May 1779.92 Martin Loy's land at Draper's Meadows was resurveyed in November 1779 after having lapsed.93

( 14-16) Price, Augustine, Daniel, and Henry-Except where noted, the following information is taken primarily from the 1985 publication Increase in Prices: Some Descendants a/David andAgnes (Hoffman) Price of I 7rh Century Germany by Ann Yates and W. Conway Price,94 which is the most recent and comprehensive published genealogy of the Price family in southwest Virginia. The reader should also consult Part I of this article for information about the important circa 1750 lawsuit Michael and Augustine Price vs. Israel Lorton and James Patton. 95

Augustine Price was baptized in Offenbach (Landau), Rheinland Pfalz, Germany, on 31 May 1722 and is said to have married Ann (Anna) Elisabetha Scherp/Sharp, daughter of Harness Sharp (see below) in 1749. He arrived aboard the ship Winter Galley in Philadelphia with his brother, Michael, and their brother-in-law, Phillip Harless, on 5 September 1738.96

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THE DRAPER'S MEADOWS SETILEMENT (1746-1756) PART II

He bargained with Israel Lorton for land on the New River in the late 1740s. On 19 August 1752, he was commissioned a lieutenant ofa troop of horse in the Augusta County militia.97 He deposed on 16 October 1802, while living in Rockingham County, that he was "driven from his home on New River by Indians in the year of Braddock's defeat [1755]," which indicates that he had been living at Draper's Meadows.98 His cabin is said to have stood about half a mile south of present-day Price's Fork within the l, 130-acre tract he had purchased with his brothers Daniel and Henry in 1754 from James Patton.

Daniel Price was born in Offenbach, Germany, and baptized on I 0 April 1724. He was married to Anna Catharina (last name unknown). It is not clear if he lived on the 1, 130-tract he purchased with his brothers from James Patton in 1754, but he later owned land in Rockingham County and is believed to have died there. Daniel appears to have served as a soldier in the French and Indian War. 99

Johan Heinrich/Henricus (Henry) Preisch (Price) was baptized in Offenbach (Landau), Rheinland Pfalz, Germany on 8 September 1726. He married "Mary Magdalene (last name unknown]," who may have been related to Jacob Harman Sr. 100 Henry's will was written in 1786 and probated in 1797. In it he specified that during her widowhood, his wife, Mary, was to have her choice of a room in either his house in Rockingham County or the one in Montgomery County. 101 Perhaps the latter was somewhere on the I, 130-acre tract of land that he and his brothers Augustine and Daniel had purchased jointly from James Patton in 1754.

(17) Sharp, George-George Sharp was the eldest son of Harness Sharp (see below). 102 He is said to have been born in 1722 in Germany, 103 and it is known that he arrived in Philadelphia aboard the ship Queen Elizabeth on 16 September 1738. 104 He purchased 285 acres at Draper's Meadows from James Patton on 2 February 1754, but it is uncertain whether he actually lived there. He probably abandoned the land during the French and Indian War, as it was resurveyed in November 1779 after having lapsed. 105 Also on 2 February 1754, George Sharp signed in German script a promissory note to William Preston for 24 shillings. 106 Johan Michael Price and "Jacob Harman" both signed the document as witnesses. Although the reason for the debt was not recorded, Preston wrote on the back "George Sharps note 24/ nigh Drapers," which could mean that Sharp was then living on his 285 acres. George Sharp is said to have married Anna Marie Loy before 1755 and to have died in 1789 in Orange County, North Carolina. 107

(18) Sharp, Harness-Harness Sharp was the father of George Sharp. He was probably the "Johannes Ernest Herman Harness Sharp" who

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was born in Germany in 1699 and arrived in Philadelphia aboard the ship Queen Elizabeth on 16 September 1738. 108 His daughter, Ann Elizabeth, is said to have married Augustine Price. 109 Harness bought 320 acres of land at Draper's Meadows from James Patton in 1754, but it is not clear whether he lived there. His land had lapsed by November 1779, when it was resurveyed. 110

The Draper's Meadows Massacre (30 July 1755) In January 1753, James Patton wrote a letter to John Blair Sr., a member

of the Virginia Council. 111 He described how in 1743 he had petitioned the Virginia government for 200,000 acres on the Western Waters in southwest Virginia but was told it could not at that time be granted "as [doing so] might occasion a Dispute betwixt them and the French who claimed a Right to the Land on those Waters." The council also felt that "as the distance was so great from any Part of the Alantick [Atlantic] Ocean, They could not conceive that any Benifit could arise to his Majesties Revenues or to the strength of this Colony by a handfull of Poor People that might Venture to settle there." Patton reminded Blair that he "was the first Brittish Subject that had petitioned for Land on sd. Waters which I Discovered at Vast Expence" and that in April 1745 he was finally given a grant for 100,000 acres with the understanding that if he "complied with my Promise in settling of that, I could not miss of the other 100,000." He noted that "the great distance [his grant] was from any of the French Governments" would (if settled) be "a usefull Barrier. .. between the French, French Indians & Virginia." Patton then complained that he had "since complied with [the terms of the 1745 grant] by Paying his Majesties Rights, and settling above 100 families on sd. Land, as also returning the Plans [survey records] to the secretaries Office before the Day Refixed." Yet other land companies, namely the Ohio and Loyal companies, were acquiring grants in the Virginia backcountry for hundreds of thousands of acres more than he had received in 1745 and his own company had not yet been able to patent all of their land.

Unfortunately for James Patton, the French and Indian War began in North America in 1754. 112 At least as early as the spring of 1753, Indians had been seriously harassing settlers in the Virginia backcountry. 113 In January 1754, having received word from George Washington that the French were determined to stay in the Ohio Valley, Governor Robert Dinwiddie instructed James Patton to "draw out the Militia of Y'r Co'ty [your county]."114 And in the summer of 1754, a Frenchman threatened to kill Colonel John Buchanan, who was then living at his plantation on Reed Creek at present-day Max Meadows in what is now Wythe County. 115

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THE DRAPER'S MEADOWS SEITLEMENT ( 1746-1756) PART II

As county lieutenant, Colonel James Patton was the highest ranking militia officer in Augusta County by 1754. Colonel John Buchanan and Major Andrew Lewis were his immediate subordinates. Although Patton was deeply concerned about his grant, this was the start ofa turbulent period in which the activities of the land companies would be greatly curtailed, and he was forced to focus more heavily on protecting the frontier families who had settled there under his auspices.

In late July 1755, Colonel Patton made a final journey to the Draper's Meadows settlement with a convoy ofmilitiamen, including Captain William Preston, to supply the community with ammunition for protection against the Indians, who had already attacked a number of settlers on the New River earlier in the month. For reasons that are unclear, Patton apparently visited the Draper and Ingles families alone, without a guard. On Wednesday, 30 July, according to William Preston, 116 James Patton was killed by Indians, probably at the house of William and Mary Ingles, 117 which may have stood somewhere in the vicinity of the Duck Pond and Solitude on what is now the VPI & SU campus (Figure 2). 118

The Draper's Meadows Massacre was first reported publicly in the Virginia Gazette on 8 August 1755: 119

By an Express this Morning from Augusta County, we have the melancholy Account of the Murder of Col. James Patton, who was killed by a Party of Indians, the last Day ofJuly, on the Head Branches of Roanoke, and eight more Men, Women, and Children. Col. Patton was going out with Ammunition &c. for the Use of the Frontier Inhabitants, and stopping at a Plantation on the Road to refresh himself, the Convoy being about five Miles before, he was beset by 16 Indians, who killed, and stripped him, and then made off with his Horse &c.

Colonel Patton's murder on the Virginia frontier at the hands ofFrench Indians (probably Shawnee) followed General Edward Braddock's death and disastrous defeat at the Battle of the Monongehela in Pennsylvania by less than three weeks. 120 Between August and October 1755, the same account of the Draper's Meadows Massacre that was printed in the Virginia Gazette on 8 August was reprinted in at least eight other newspapers in the American colonies and in England, as follows: Boston Evening-Post; Boston Gazette, or Country Journal; Boston Weekly News-Letter; Gentleman s Magazine (London); Maryland Gazette; New-York Mercury; Pennsylvania Gazette; South-Carolina Gazette. 121

There is no doubt that the Indians scalped James Patton. 122 The other massacre victims known to have been killed were Eleanor Draper and

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RYAN s. MAYS her grandchild (the child of John and Bettie Draper) and Casper Barger. In addition, Mary Draper Ingles, Bettie Draper, and a man named Henry Leonard were taken captive. A man named James Cull was wounded in his foot during the attack. 123 William Ingles and John Draper escaped because it seems neither was present at his home at the time of the massacre.

Several excellent analyses of the Draper's Meadows Massacre have been published in recent years, so it is not necessary to give an exhaustive account of the event and its aftermath in this article. 124 There has also been some speculation as to where James Patton and the other people killed in the massacre were buried. Curiously, no record of their burial site(s) seems to have survived, even amongst the large number of extant documents written by William Preston and other members of his family. It would appear that descendants of those involved in the massacre never touched on the subject in writing. One wonders if the graves were intentionally left unmarked in 1755 and their location kept a secret by Preston and others close to him for many years. Perhaps as the years went by and after Preston and his immediate descendants had died or moved away, the grave sites were simply forgotten. We certainly know nothing of their whereabouts today. 125 Wherever these people are now resting will probably always remain a mystery unless some new documentation comes to light or construction projects on and around the VPI & SU campus disturb their graves.

A Fort at Draper's Meadows (1756)? An initial attempt organized by Colonel John Buchanan during the

first week ofAugust 1755 to overtake the Indians who had attacked Draper's Meadows failed. 126 A much larger military expedition under the command ofMajor Andrew Lewis set out against the Shawnee from Fort Frederick on the New River during the winter of 1756. This expedition hoped to reach the Shawnee villages in the Ohio River Valley, but it, too, was unsuccessful. 127

On 8 September 1756, Governor Dinwiddie wrote to Colonel Clement Read asking him to "Give [Captain Samuel] Stalniker 100[£]. .. to qualify him to raise his Co. [company] and build a little Stockade F't [fort] at Draper's Meadow [sic] ... " 128 However, there is no documentary evidence that the fort was ever built. 129

In 1916, the Allegheny Chapter of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) placed a monument in a field just above Tom's Creek along Shadow Lake Road (in a northern section of the greater Draper's Meadows tract). The monument's plaque states that this was the "Site of Barger's Indian Fort 1756." The official report of the DAR's dedication ceremony on 4 July 1916 stated only that the fort was

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THE DRAPER 's MEAoows SETTLEMENT (1746-1756) PART II

"commanded one time by Capt. Stalluaker [Stalnaker], and at another by Capt. John Floyd."130 This statement was probably based on the assumption that the fort Governor Dinwiddie wanted Captain Stalnaker to build at Draper's Meadows in 1756 was what became known as the Barger Fort, which seems quite clearly to explain why the DAR chose the date 1756. The information about Captain John Floyd evidently came from David E. Johnston's 1906 book about the New River settlements, in which Johnston suggested that Philip Barger and his family built a "fort" on Tom's Creek in the 1770s. Without citing sources, Johnston also wrote that the Barger fort was commanded by Captain John Floyd in 1777. 131

The author has been unable to find any primary source documentation of a fort having been located at the site marked by the DAR on Shadow Lake Road. 132 In the author's opinion, local tradition that a fort or fortified homestead was located at this place is credible, but the fort was probably not built until the 1770s and was not present as early as the 1750s. The DAR's placing 1756 on their monument was due to their mistaken assumption that the fort Stalnaker was supposed to have built at Draper's Meadows was what later generations referred to as the Barger Fort. It is important to note that Casper Barger's 507-acre tract ofland on the headwaters of Strouble's Creek (deeded to him in 1754) did not include the land where the Barger fort is believed to have been located. The western border ofCasper Barger's tract was one mile from the later site of the Barger fort (see Figure 1) and there appears to be no documentary evidence that Casper's immediate heir, Philip Barger, lived in that area as early as the 1750s. 133 Therefore, this fort has no history of being present before the 1770s, and it probably has no direct connection to Casper Barger, the Draper's Meadows Massacre, or the fort Stalnaker was supposed to have built.

There is also believed to have been a fort built possibly during the French and Indian War by Michael Price at a large spring beside present-day Old Fort Road (about one mile south of Price's Fork) on the 1,130-acre Price tract at Draper's Meadows. This fort reportedly was used during the Revolutionary War (l 775-1783) for militia musters in what was by then Montgomery County, 134 but there is likewise no direct evidence apart from local, oral tradition that it was built before the 1770s.

The Abandonment of Draper's Meadows The Draper's Meadows settlement appears to have been abandoned

soon after the Indian raids of 1755, as there is little indication in the surviving records that the area was occupied again until approximately the late-l 760s. On 29 August 1755, about a month after the Draper's Meadows Massacre,

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RYAN s. MAYS Governor Horatio Sharpe of Maryland wrote the following in a letter to General William Shirley:

The Virg [Virginia] Assembly has granted £40,000 for the service & Govr. Dinwiddie speaks of raising 1,200 men therewith & sending them to build a Fort somewhere near the meadows or just over the Alleganny Hills, but I doubt he will scarcely execute such a scheme for it will require no small number of Men to protect the Frontiers of that Province whch have been much infested by Indians since Gener! Braddock's misfortune. The Inhabitants who dwelt in the distant parts ofVirga [Virginia] on New River & that called Green Brier [Greenbrier River] have all left their Plantations.

Just how terrifying the frontier had become by this time is expressed poignantly in the reasons given by deputy sheriffs Samson Matthews and William Lusk for not executing warrants against men whom they believed were still living in the New River Valley. In March 1756, Matthews' warrant against Thomas Looney was "Not Executed by Reason I was informed it was Dangerous to go to New river." Lusk did not execute his warrant against Frederick Stem "by Reason of the murder Done on the New River by the Indians." 135

Summary This article concludes the author's survey of the historical Draper's

Meadows settlement between the years 1746 and 1756. The locality was still being called Draper's Meadows as late as the 1780s, 136 but by that time William Preston and William Black had both settled in the heart of the community around the headwaters of Strouble's Creek and the name gradually went out of use. Smithfield Plantation, the Town of Blacksburg, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, and Price's Fork, are today the most commonly recognized names associated with Colonel James Patton's survey on the waters ofTom's and Strouble's creeks at Draper's Meadows.

Acknowledgments I would like to thank the following persons for their assistance to me

in locating primary source materials for use in this study: Nancy Weaver and other members of the VPI & SU Interlibrary Loan staff; the Library of Virginia Interlibrary Loan staff; John Davis, clerk of Augusta County Circuit Court; Vickie Arnold, deputy clerk ofAugusta County Circuit Court; Jim Holmberg, curator of manuscripts at the Filson Historical Society; John McClure, Reference Department Manager at the Virginia Historical Society;

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THE DRAPER'S MEADOWS SETTLEMENT (1746-1756) PART II

Candice Roland, Library Clerk at the Virginia Historical Society, and other members of the VHS reference staff; John M. Jackson and other members of the VPI & SU Special Collections staff; and Cathy Reynolds, archivist of the F. B. Kegley Library at Wytheville Community College. I also thank Mary B. Kegley, Jim Glanville, Hugh Campbell, John M. Jackson, and five anonymous reviewers for their comments and suggestions on an earlier draft of the manuscript.

Appendix The following is a transcript of the 1739 petition of George Draper

described in the section George Draper and Family in Pennsylvania (17 3 Os) above:

To the Honourable Justices of the Peace for the County of Chester at their Quarter sessions held at Chester for The sd County ye 281h of August Anno Dom 1739

The humble Petition of Georg Draper of the Township of Newton all in the sd County Sheweth That whereas Your petitioner Did in the year 1734 Lease a Certain Piece of Land belon'ing [belonging] To James Gibbons Containing Two hundred Acres whereon Your Petitioner is now Settled and have [sic] Made very Considerable Improvements Haveing near one Hundred acres Cleard a Good Hous [illegible] Barn and about five or six acres of meadow cleard. And whereas Some time after Your Petitioner's Setling There There was by Order of the Governer and Counsil a Provincial Road Laid through the Improve' d part of sd land and within a few Yards ofYour petitioners hous which road Leads from Pexton To phil 'ad [Philadelphia] and is very much usd by Travalers So that Your Petitioner (with his neighbours) have been much burdend with them, There not being aney Hous of Entertainment within Tenn [possibly Four] miles on sd Road. Therefore Your Petitioner Prays that You may be pleasd to recomend him to the Governer in Order for His obtaining a Lisance to keep a Publick hous of Entertainment for man and hors [horse] and your petitioner shall ever pray George Draper

We whose Names are heareunto subscrib'd are of opinion There is Great need of a hous of Entertainment at the place above proposd That being the place That the Dutch and other Travalers Make Their Stage There not being aney Other Convenient place To Watter [water] a Team [of horses] &c. within maney miles of sd Place on the sd Road and we belive Your Petitioner to be an Honest Man and well Qualified for Keeping That purpos[e]. Therefore we pray your may be pleasd to Recomend Him according to his Request.

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[Below George Draper's petition, and written by a different hand (apparently that ofThomas Edwards), is the following:]

These are to certifie whom it may concern that the Residence of this Petitioner [Draper] is a very proper place for a house of Entertainment, and the distance of Public houses on that Road is at Least 20 Miles, and that Place his lies near the Center where there is a general road for travellers to get Refreshment for man and horse, In testimony whereof I subscribe my name Tho: Edwards

[Then following Edwards' subscription to the petition are George Draper's other neighbors, whose signatures are also transcribed verbatim but separated by commas:]

Thos. Park, John Jackson, John Strode, Tho James, Samuel MaCue, Alex: [B]aillie, Antho Wayne, [illegible], Joseph Gibbons, Jon. Gibbons, William Trego, Abel Parke, James Porter, John Henderson, Samuel [illegible], [illegible], Willm: Darlinton, James Gardner, Thomas X [his mark] Nicklas, Jeremiah I [his mark] Peirsoll, David Thomas, Daniel Moore, Richard Pearsoll, John Pearsell, [illegible]

Endnotes Abbreviations:

ACCH =Augusta County Courthouse, Staunton, Virginia DM =Lyman C. Draper Manuscript Collection (Draper Manuscripts), State Historical Society of

Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin. Microfilmed by the Department of Photographic Reproduction, University of Chicago Library

FCCH = Frederick County Courthouse, Winchester, Virginia FHS = Filson Historical Society, Louisville, Kentucky LC= Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. LVA =Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia MCCH = Montgomery County Court House, Christiansburg, Virginia QQ = Series QQ, Draper Manuscripts, Preston Papers. Citations include the series between

volume and page number (i.e. 1 QQ38). PP-DM =Preston Papers, Draper Manuscripts, State Historical Society of Wisconsin PP-VHS = Papers of the Preston Family of Virginia (Preston Family Papers), 1727-1896, Mss 1

P9267f, Virginia Historical Society, Richmond, Virginia. Microfilmed by the Library of Congress

VHS = Virginia Historical Society, Richmond, Virginia VPI&SU =Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Virginia WCC = Wytheville Community College, Wytheville, Va.

I. Ryan S. Mays, "The Draper's Meadows Settlement (1746-1756) Part I: George Draper and Family," Smithfield Review 18 (2014), 25-50. The author wishes to add here a record which he inadvertently omitted from Part I: This was Colonel John Buchanan's "List of Surveyers [Surveyor's] fees Act [Account] to Colo. James Patton Sheriff of augusta county" in which Buchanan listed George Draper among those owing fees. The amount Draper owed (or had already paid) is unknown because the document has a tear in it immediately following Draper's

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name. However, most of the other men owed fees equal to 500 pounds of tobacco. On the back Colonel Buchanan wrote an acknowledgment dated 13 February 1745/46 of his having received from Colonel Patton for as many surveyors notes as amounted to 22,500 pounds ofgross tobacco, for which he promised to account or return. This account is in Surveys c. 1735--c. 1740, 173 WFCHS, Box 2, James Wood Family Papers, Stewart Bell Jr. Archives, Handley Regional Library, Winchester-Frederick County Historical Society, Winchester, Virginia. It provides additional evidence that Buchanan or some other surveyor surveyed land for George Draper in western Virginia in the early 1740s.

2. This new record (see endnote 4) was found by Hugh and Gregory Campbell in May 2014. 3. It is not yet certain that this record refers to the Drapers who eventually lived at Draper's

Meadows, but it seems that this was probably the case. The new information is consistent with John P. Hale's undocumented claim that George and Eleanor Draper migrated through the Valley of Virginia from the Philadelphia region, where he said they lived during the 1730s after immigrating from Ireland. John P. Hale, Trans-Allegheny Pioneers: Historical Sketches of the First White Settlements West of the Alleghenies 1748 and After (Cincinnati, Ohio.: The Graphic Press, 1886), 13.

4. Petition of George Draper, 28 August 1739, Tavern Petitions and Index (1700-1800) for Chester County, Pennsylvania, LDS Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah, LDS microfilm no. 567051 (Index) and no. 567053 (Original Petition). At the top of the actual petition, the date appears to be 28 August 1789, but careful comparison of the construction of each digit clearly shows (as does the Index) that it is 28 August "1739."

5. Augusta County Will Book I: 127-128, ACCH, LVA microfilm reel 41. 6. Augusta County Court Case, Judgment May 1750, John Baird vs. Eleanor Draper, Administratrix

ofGeorge Draper, File 388, ACCH. 7. Augusta County Court Case, Judgment August 1749, George Draper vs. James Conly, Account

of George Draper against James Conly, File 387, ACCH; Augusta County Order Book 2: 370-371, ACCH, LVA microfilm reel 62; Virginia Gazette, 10 January 1752, No. 54.

8. Augusta County Order Book 3: 209, ACCH, LVA microfilm reel 62; Augusta County Will Book I: 417-418, ACCH, LVA microfilm reel 41.

9. Augusta County Will Book I: 484, ACCH, LVA microfilm reel 41. 10. Augusta County Court Case, Judgment August 1752, Eleanor Draper vs. George Breckenridge,

Administrator ofJames Conly, File 391, ACCH. 11. PP-VHS, Folder 74, LC microfilm reel 2. 12. PP-VHS, Folder 78, LC microfilm reel 2. 13. Wood's River Land Entry Book 1745-1781, Preston Family Papers, 1658-1896, Davie Collection,

Folder 52, Mss A P937d, FHS. The handwriting of these entries are, in the author's opinion, clearly those of William Preston and James Patton, but what appears to be the signature of Conrad Eakerd (in German script) is below the entry made by Preston, and the Harmans appear to have also signed themselves. It would seem that Eakerd was present when Preston recorded his entry for land, and that Patton later wrote down himself what the Harmans told him. The descriptions of Eakerd's land as being "out of that tract where Draper Lives" and "drapers survey" are undoubtedly referring to the larger 7 ,500-acre tract, which is further evidence that George Draper and family were considered its founding settlers. The entire area was simply called "Draper's Survey" at that time.

14. Bills of complaint by Jacob Lorton that Conrad Eakerd, "who has run away," was indebted to him about £10 Virginia money, written by Colonel James Patton 30 July 1753, Augusta County Court Case, Judgment August 1753, Jacob Lorton vs. Conrad Eakerd, File 396, ACCH.

15. PP-VHS, Folder 685, LC microfilm reel 4. Preston's transcript of Eakerd's survey is undated but it was written in a notebook with other surveys and notes dated April and May 1771.

16. The most complete biographical sketches of Buchanan so far published can be found in Frederick B. Kegley, Kegley sVirginia Frontier: The Beginning ofthe Southwest, The Roanoke ofColonial Days, I 740-1783 (Roanoke, Va.: Southwest Virginia Historical Society, 1938), 368-371; Mary

25

RYANS. MAYS

B. Kegley and Frederick B. Kegley, Early Adventurers on the Western Waters: The New River of Virginia in Pioneer Days, 1745-1800, vol. I (Orange, Va.: Green Publishers, Inc., 1980), 87, 200-202; and Donald W. Gunter, "John Buchanan," in Dictionary of Virginia Biography, vol. 2, Sara B. Bearss et al., eds. (Richmond, Va.: Library of Virginia, 2001), 367-368.

17. Augusta County Order Book 3:403, ACCH, LVA microfilm reel 62. 18. John Buchanan did not have a license to survey from the College of William and Mary, as was

required by Virginia law: Thomas Lewis to William Preston, 11August1781, PP-OM 5QQ-97, Microfilm reel 111. However, Buchanan and Preston both produced identical plats of surveys on the Holston River, presumably run out by Buchanan, in November 1746 and February 1746/47, suggesting either that Preston was training under Buchanan or (less likely) that he copied the plats some years later: PP-VHS, Folder 23, LC microfilm reel 2. Similarly, John Poage was not officially commissioned a deputy surveyor ofAugusta County until May 1760: Augusta County Order Book 6:350, ACCH, LVA microfilm reel 4. But Poage had surveyed land for James Patton in 1751: Augusta County Surveyor's Record I :51-53, ACCH, LVA microfilm reel 107. William Preston kept a notebook of surveys in 1751, and their courses and locations are in most cases nearly identical to those recorded by John Poage: PP-VHS, Folder 67, LC microfilm reel 2. This suggests that Preston helped Poage make the surveys. See also: Will of John Poage 1789, Augusta County Will Book 7: 140-143, ACCH, LVA microfilm reel 45.

19. Land Records and Survey Book of James Patton and William Preston, Circa 1751-1755, Preston Family Papers ( 1745-1915), Series 4, Folders I and 2, F. B. Kegley Library, WCC; PP-VHS, Folder 89a, LC microfilm reel 2.

20. PP-VHS, Folder 74, LC microfilm reel 2. 21. Land Office Patent Book 32: 178-181, LVA microfilm reel 30. 22. Augusta County Order Book 6: 31-95, ACCH, LVA microfilm reel 4. 23. John Garrett, unpublished records and personal communication to the author in May 2014. 24. http://www.acme.com/planimeterl 25. W. Dale Carter, "Was Dr. Thomas Walker a Crook?," Retrospective: Journal ofthe ~the County

Genealogical and Historical Society 4 (2008), 19-27. 26. Kegley and Kegley, Early Adventurers, I: 174, 247; Map of "William Preston Lands west of

Blacksburg, part of James Patton's 7,500 Acres 'at a place called Draper'" by J. R. Hilderbrand, no date, Mary B. Kegley Papers, Folder 58, F. B. Kegley Library, WCC; John Garrett, former Field Supervisor for the Town of Blacksburg, Virginia, unpublished records; Sara B. Keough and Blaine Adams, "Smithfield Plantation: The Original Land Parcels," Smithfield Review 6 (2002), 71-73; Hugh Campbell, unpublished records; Ryan S. Mays, unpublished records.

27. Augusta County Surveyor's Record I: 37a,ACCH, LVAmicrofilm reel 107; Mays, "The Draper's Meadows Settlement," 25-50.

28. See, for example: Timothy Silver, A New Face on the Countryside: lndians, Colonists, and Slaves in South Atlantic Forests, 1500-1800 (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1990), 59--64.

29. Construction of the Duck Pond was completed in the summer of 1937 according to Ralph M. Brown, "V.P.I. Historical Index 1872-1942," Bulletin of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute 35 (1942), 5--62.

30. "V.P.I. Will Have Big Drill Field: Monster Grading and Draining Task is Completed-Not Ready to Use," Roanoke Times, 4 October 1928.

31. Kegley and Kegley, Early Adventurers, I: 174--280; Turk McCleskey, "The Price of Conformity: Class, Ethnicity, and Local Authority on the Colonial Virginia Frontier," 213-226, in Michael J. Puglisi, ed., Diversity and Accommodation: Essays on the Cultural Composition of the Virginia Frontier (Knoxville, Tenn.: University ofTennessee Press, 1997), 213-226.

32. PP-VHS, Folder 89a, LC microfilm reel 2. 33. Augusta County Order Book 4: 3, ACCH, LVA microfilm reel 63. 34. Augusta County Court Case, Judgment March 1755, John Adams vs. Adam Harman Sr. and Adam

Harman Jr., 395, ACCH.

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THE DRAPER'S MEADOWS SETILEMENT (1746-1756) PART II

35. Kegley and Kegley, Early Adventurers, I: 217-227. 36. A helpful published sketch of Casper Barger and his descendants can be found in Kegley and

Kegley, Early Adventurers, I: 190-192. 37. http://www.werelate.org/wiki/Person:Casper_Barger_(l); I. D. Rupp, ed., A Collection of

Upwards of Thirty Thousand Names of German, Swiss, Dutch, French and other Immigrants in Pennsylvania From 1727 to 1776 (Philadelphia, Pa.: Leary, Stuart, & Company, 1898), 115.

38. Gibson Worsham, Solitude Historic Structure Report (Blacksburg, Va.: Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1997), 8-12.

39. "A Register of the Persons who have been either Killed Wounded or taken Prisoners by the Enemy in Augusta County, as also of such as have made their Escape," 1754-1758, compiled by William Preston, PP-OM, IQQ83, Microfilm reel 110. Based on the appearance of the handwriting on this document, the author feels quite certain that Preston wrote it himself.

40. PP-VHS, Folder 3498, LC microfilm reel 13. 41. Augusta County Will Book 2:409, ACCH, LVA microfilm reel 42. 42. Augusta County Will Book 2: 436-437, ACCH, LVA microfilm reel 42. 43. Kegley and Kegley, Early Adventurers, I: 190; 44. Kegley and Kegley, Early Adventurers, I: 190-191; Montgomery County Deed Book D: 475-

479, MCCH, LVA microfilm reel 3. 45. PP-VHS, Folder 346, LC microfilm reel 3; Barbara V. Little, "Augusta County Quit Rents,"

Magazine of Virginia Genealogy 51 (2013), 310-314; List of Quit Rents of the Middle District ofAugusta, Preston Family (Charles Peale Didier Collection) Papers, 1747-1897, Ms 1985-020, Box 1, Folder 6, Special Collections, VP! & SU. Preston appears to have made a typographical error when he wrote in the account lists that this tract measured 307 (not the original 507) acres, but this is unclear. See also "A List of Bonds Due to the Estate of Colo. James Patton Decst [Deceased] Received from Mr. William Thompson the 23 of May 1766," compiled by Colo. John Buchanan, PP-VHS, Folder 488, LC microfilm reel 3.

46. PP-VHS, Folder 468, LC microfilm reel 3. 47. Augusta County Deed Book 6: 96-98, ACCH, LVA microfilm reel 4. 48. Augusta County Order Book 4: 126, ACCH, LVA Microfilm reel 63. 49."Register," 1754-1758, compiled by William Preston, PP-OM, I QQ83, Microfilm

reel 110. 50. Hale, Trans-Allegheny Pioneers, 13. 51. Augusta County Will Book I: 127-128, ACCH, LVA microfilm reel 41. 52. Augusta County Surveyor's Record I: 33b, ACCH, LVA microfilm reel I 07; Augusta County

Deed Book 6: 116--117, ACCH, LVA microfilm reel 4. 53. Deposition of John Draper Sr., 5 April 1806, Augusta County Chancery Case No. I 05 Alexander

Montgomery and wife vs. Elizabeth Madison, LVA Index No. 1808-065; Lyman Chalkley, Chronicles ofthe Scotch-Irish Settlement in Virginia Extracted From the Original Court Records ofAugusta County 1745-1800, vols. I and 2 (Rosslyn, Va.: The Commonwealth Printing Co., 1912),2: 109-110.

54. "Register," 1754-1758, compiled by William Preston, PP-OM, I QQ83, Microfilm reel 110. 55. Mary B. Kegley, Early Adventurers on the Western Waters: The New River of Virginia in Pioneer

Days, 1745-1800, vol. 2 (Wytheville, Va.: Kegley Books, 2003), 379-382. 56. http://www.werelate.org/wiki/Person:Jacob _Hermann _%282%29 57. http://www.werelate.org/wiki/Person:Jacob _Harmon _%2810%29 58. Kegley and Kegley, Early Adventurers, I: 217-277. 59. Augusta County Order Book 3:314, ACCH, LVA microfilm reel 62. 60. Augusta County Deed Book 6: 96--98, ACCH, LVA microfilm reel 4; Augusta County Deed Book

14: 259-264, LVA microfilm reel 8; Kegley and Kegley, Early Adventurers, I: 239-241. 61. PP-VHS, Folder 346, LC microfilm reel 3; Little, "Augusta County Quit Rents," 310-314. 62. "Register," 1754-1758, compiled by William Preston, PP-OM, I QQ83, Microfilm reel 110.

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http://www.werelate.org/wiki/Person:Jacobhttp://www.werelate.org/wiki/Person:Jacobhttp://www.werelate.org/wiki/Person:Casper_Barger_(l

RYAN s. MAYS 63. Augusta County Will Book 3: 337-339, ACCH, LVA microfilm reel 43. 64. McCleskey, "The Price of Conformity," 213-226. 65. Augusta County Will Book 3: 341-343, ACCH, LVA microfilm reel 43. 66. Chalkley, Chronicles, I: 275. 67. Augusta County Court Case, Judgment May 1756, Andrew Johnston vs. Jacob Harman Jr.,

Account dated 14 March 1755, File 395, ACCH. In papers filed in the lawsuit Andrew Johnston vs. Humphrey Baker, Augusta County Court Case, Judgment June 1756, File 390, ACCH, Johnston is identified several times as being a merchant.

68. http://www.werelate.org/wiki/Person:Jacob _Harmon _%2810%29 69. Kegley, Kegley s Virginia Frontier, 194-195. 70. Augusta Country Order Book I: 131, ACCH, LVA microfilm reel 62. 71. Augusta County Surveyor's Record I :29b, ACCH, LVA microfilm reel 107. 72. Hale, Trans-Allegheny Pioneers, 27. 73. Journal of Dr. Thomas Walker 1750, William C. Rives Papers, 1674-1939, MSS37937, Library

of Congress; Lewis P. Summers, Annals ofSouthwest Virginia 1760-1800 (Abingdon, Va.: L.P. Summers, 1929), 8-26.

74. Pennsylvania Gazette, 26 February 1756, No. 1418; Roberta I. Steel and Andrew I. Steele, eds., Escape from Indian Captivity: The Story of Mary Draper Ingles and son Thomas Ingles as told by John Ingles Sr. (Radford, Va.: Roberta Ingles Steel and Andrew Ingles Steele, I 969, reprinted 1982); Patricia G. Johnson, James Patton and the Appalachian Colonists (Pulaski, Va.: Edmonds Printing, Inc., 2nd ed., 1983, first printed 1973), 201-208; Ellen A. Brown, "Portrait ofa Survivor: The Long and Eventful Life of Mary Draper Ingles," Smithfield Review 8 (2004), 55--69; Marion C. Harrison, "The Charmed Life of Mary Ingles," Virginia Cavalcade 10 (1960), 34-41; Letitia P. Floyd, "Recollections of 18th Century Frontier Life by Letitia Preston Floyd, Introduction by Wirt H. Wills, Transcription by June Stubbs," Smithfield Review I (1997), 3-16.

75. Kegley and Kegley, Early Adventurers, I: 352-359. 76. Montgomery County Survey BookA:239, MCCH, LVA microfilm reel 33. 77. Land Records and Survey Book of James Patton and William Preston, Circa 1751-1755, Preston

Family Papers (1745-1915), Series4, Folders I and 2, F. B. Kegley Library, WCC. 78. PP-VHS, Folder 125, LC microfilm reel 2. 79. Montgomery County Survey Book A: 238, MCCH, LVA microfilm reel 33. 80. http://www.werelate.org/wiki/Person:Johan _Lingel _%281 %29 81. PP-VHS, Folder 346, LC microfilm reel 3; Little, "Augusta County Quit Rents," 310-314. 82. Chalkley, Chronicles, l: 488; Augusta County Deed Book 15: 515-519, LVA microfilm reel 8;

Kegley and Kegley, Early Adventurers, I: 206. 83. Augusta County Court Case, Judgment March 1755, John Adams vs. Adam Harman Sr. and Adam

Harman Jr., 395, ACCH. 84. Rupp, Thirty Thousand Names, 121. 85. Augusta County Order Book 4: 9, ACCH, LVA microfilm reel 63. 86. Memorandum of Adam Harman, Undated, Executive Papers, 1746--1776, Roads and Mills

Papers, Section 9, Document 50, ACCH. At an Augusta County Court held 19 May 1749, it had been "Ordered that the former Overseers [including Adam Harman] of the Indian Road from Frederick County line to Tom's Creek be continued until they clear the sd Road and set up Posts of Directions according to Law." Augusta County Order Book 2: 126, ACCH, LVA microfilm reel 62.

87. Augusta County Order Book 4:142, ACCH, LVA microfilm reel 63. The Bingamin's Ferry mentioned in the road order was on the New River at present-day Pepper in what is now Pulaski County, Virginia: Kegley and Kegley, Early Adventurers, I: 193-194. Widow Draper was obviously Eleanor Draper.

88. Kegley and Kegley, Early Adventurers, 1: 194-198. Samuel Black willed his land at Draper's Meadows to his sons, John and William Black. The Town of Blacksburg was named for William Black in the I 790s.

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THE DRAPER'S MEADOWS SETILEMENT (1746-1756) PART II

89. Land indenture (deed) between James Patton and William Leppard for 75 acres, Msl985-020, Box I, Folder 3, Preston Family (Charles Peale Didier Collection) Papers, 1747-1897, Special Collections, VPI & SU.

90. Montgomery County Will Book A: 194, MCCH, LVA microfilm reel 33. 91. The information about Jacob Lorton all comes from an excellent sketch of the Lorton family in

Kegley and Kegley, Early Adventurers, I: 236--238, 261. 92. This information comes from William E. Lynch Jr., ed., The Loy Family in America (Baltimore,

Md.: Gateway Press, Inc., 1984), 129-132, 191; Genevieve E. Peters, Know Your Relatives: The Sharps, Gibbs, Graves, Efland, Albright, Loy, Miller, Snoder(v, Tillman, and Other Related Families (Arlington, Va.: G. E. Peters, 1972); Augusta County Deed Book 6: 84-86, ACCH, LVA microfilm reel 4. The author also referred to the unpublished genealogical notes of Virginia Allen Loy Campbell, wife of Hugh Campbell, which include records found by the genealogist Louise W. Hutchinson of Winston-Salem, North Carolina (notes currently in the possession of Hugh Campbell in Blacksburg, Va.), and http://www.were/ate.org!wiki/Person:Martin_Loy_%281%29

93. Montgomery County Survey Book A: 241, MCCH, LVA microfilm reel 33. 94. Anne H. Yates and W. Conway Price, Increase in Prices: Some Descendants ofDavid andAgnes

(Hoffman) Price of171h Century Germany (Ridgecrest, Cal.: A.H. Yates, privately printed, 1985), x-xi, 128-131, 225, 312, 336.

95. Augusta County Chancery Case, LVA Index No. 1752-003, Michael and Augustine Price vs.Israel Lorton and James Patton, File 392, ACCH; Mays, 'The Draper's Meadows Settlement," 25-50.

96. Rupp, Thirty Thousand Names, 115. Johann Michael Preisch (baptized Offenbach, Germany, 9 October 1718--died 1802, Montgomery County, Virginia) was the brother ofAugustine, Daniel, Henry, and Anna Margaretha (Harless) Price. It is thought he settled in what is now Montgomery County in the 1750s but moved to the Peaked Mountain settlement in what is now Rockingham County during the French and Indian War. He purchased 750 acres from his brothers out of their I,130-acre tract at Draper's Meadows in 1770 and built his home near the eastern border of the tract. He and his wife are buried in the family cemetery at the end of present-day Hamilton Court off Price's Fork Road. See: Kegley and Kegley, Early Adventurers, I :261-264, and Yates and Price, Increase in Prices, 2, 128-131.

97. Augusta County Order Book 3:313, ACCH, LVA microfilm reel 62. 98. Chalkley, Chronicles, 2:36. The author has searched repeatedly for this deposition (the original

document) in the Judgment files at Augusta County Courthouse but cannot find it. 99. Lloyd D. Bockstruck, Virginia s Colonial Soldiers (Baltimore, Md.: Genealogical Publishing

Co., 1988), 204. 100. In his will, Jacob Harman Sr. mentioned his granddaughter "Madlina Price": Augusta County

Will Book 3: 337-339, ACCH, LVA microfilm reel 43. IOI.Montgomery County Will Book I: 1-2, MCCH, LVA microfilm reel 14. 102.Montgomery County Survey Book A:239, MCCH, LVA microfilm reel 33. I 03. http://www. were/ate. orglwiki!Person:John _Sharp _%283 4%29 104. Rupp, Thirty Thousand Names, 120. 105.Montgomery County Survey Book A: 240, MCCH, LVA microfilm reel 33. 106. PP-VHS, Folder 126, LC microfilm reel 2. I 07. http://www. were/ate.orglwiki/Person:John _Sharp _%2834%29 I08. http://www. were/ate.orglwiki/Person: Ernest_ Sharp _%282%29; Yates and Price, Increase in

Prices, 312; Rupp, Thirty Thousand Names, 120. I09. Yates and Price, Increase in Prices, 312. 110. Montgomery County Survey Book A: 239, MCCH, LVA microfilm reel 33. 111. PP-DM, I QQ77, Microfilm reel 110. The letter is undated but was estimated to have been written

in January 1753 by Mabel C. Weaks, The Preston and Virginia Papers ofthe Draper Collection of Manuscripts (Madison, Wis.: State Historical Society ofWisconsin, 1915), 7. This was evidently a draft or a transcript of the letter actually sent to Blair because it is written in the hand of William Preston and is unsigned.

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RYAN s. MAYS 112. The French and Indian War is generally considered to have begun in 1754. See, for example:

Fred Anderson, Crucible of War: The Seven Years· War and the Fate of Empire in British North America. 1754-1766 (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2000). However, major hostilities did not begin in the Virginia backcountry until 1755. In 1775, William Preston wrote on the back of a memorandum written by James Patton on 22 February 1755: "the Indian War began in 1755," PP-VHS, Folder 148.

113. Johnson, James Patton, 172-175. 114. Governor Dinwiddie to James Patton, January 1754, in Robert A. Brock, ed., The Official

Records ofRobert Dinwiddie, Lieutenant-Governor ofthe Colony of Virginia, 1751-1758, Now First Printed from the Manuscript in the Collections of the Virginia Historical Society, vol. I (Richmond, Va.: Virginia Historical Society, 1883): 50-51; Johnston, James Patton, 1 77-184; Richard Osborn, "William Preston: Origins of a Backcountry Political Career," Journal of Backcountry Studies 2 (2007), 1-37.

115. Governor Dinwiddie to Richard Pearis, 2 August 1754, in Brock, Official Records of Robert Dinwiddie, I: 266-268.

116. "Register," 1754-1758, compiled by William Preston, PP-DM, 1 QQ83, Microfilm reel 110. 117. Richard Osborn, "William Preston in the American Revolution," Journal of Backcountry

Studies 3 (2008), 1-97, especially pages 88-93. 118. William and Mary Ingles were probably living on their 255-acre tract that William had

purchased from James Patton in 1754. Local tradition has placed the site of the massacre, or at least the part of the massacre which occurred at the Ingles home, around the site of what later became known as Solitude on the VPI & SU campus. In 1910, a concrete memorial bridge with the inscription "The Draper's Meadows Massacre July 8 [sic), 1755" was built over Strouble's Creek at the request of then President Paul B. Barringer (1857-1941). This bridge is still present today at the northeastern end of the Duck Pond. President Barringer was very interested in the history of the massacre and the Draper's Meadows settlement; he even wrote to an Ingles descendant, Mr. William Ingles of Radford, Virginia, in 1910 to ask him about the site of the massacre and the Ingles house. Only Barringer's copies of his two letters to Ingles are extant. See: Paul B. Barringer Papers, 1913-1919, RG 2/6, Box I, Folder 18, Special Collections, VP! & SU. Based on the information he received from Ingles and others, Barringer wrote the following short history: Paul B. Barringer, "Draper's Meadows Massacre," The Virginia Tech 8, Nos. 14 and 15 ( 18 and 25 January 1911 ), 7, 2, respectively. Here he reported that the massacre took place around Solitude and that the Ingles house stood a short distance west of the site of the concrete bridge. However, there is still no conclusive evidence of exactly where the Ingles, Draper, and Barger houses stood.

119. Virginia Gazette, 8 August 1755, No. 239. 120. Paul E. Kopperman, Braddock at the Monongahela (Pittsburgh, Pa.: University of Pittsburgh

Press, 1977). 121. Boston Evening-Post, 1 September 1755, No. 1044; Boston Gazette, or Country Journal,

I September 1755, No. 22; Boston Weekly News-Letter, 4 September 1755, No. 2774; Gentleman's Magazine, October 1755, 25: 474-475; Maryland Gazette, 21 August 1755, No. 537; New-York Mercury, 25 October 1755; Pennsylvania Gazette, 21August1755, No. 1391; South-Carolina Gazette, 18-25 September 1755, No. 1109.

122. In a letter dated 30 August 1755 from Maryland Governor Horatio Sharpe to Frederick Calvert, Sharpe wrote that "We learn from Virga [Virginia] that one Coll. Patton ofAugusta Cty [County] a very active & worthy man was lately scalped as he was proceeding to command a Party of Rangers on New River." William H. Brown, ed., Archives of Maryland, Correspondence of Governor Horatio Sharpe Vol. 1. 1753-1757 (Baltimore, Md.: Maryland Historical Society, 1888), page 276-277.

123. PP-VHS, Folder 165, LC microfilm reel 2; "Register," 1754-1758, compiled by William Preston, PP-DM, 1QQ83, Microfilm reel 110.

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THE DRAPER'S MEADOWS SETTLEMENT (1746-1756) PART II

124. The best and most comprehensive modem-day accounts of the Draper's Meadows Massacre are Johnson, James Patton, 201-212; Osborn, "William Preston," Journal of Backcountry Studies 2 (2007), 1-37, see especially pages 29-33; Osborn, "William Preston," Journal of Backcountry Studies 3 (2008), 1-97, especially pages 88-93 (this and the preceding reference are extracted from Osborn's 1990 University of Maryland dissertation on William Preston); Ellen A. Brown, "What Really Happened at Draper's Meadows? The Evolution of a Frontier Legend," Smithfield Review 7 (2003), 5-21.

125. For example, there is neither documentary nor observable evidence that James Patton is buried in the Smithfield Plantation cemetery, where William Preston and his family are buried: Laura J. Wedin, "The Preston Cemetery of Historic Smithfield Plantation," Smithfield Review 7 (2003), 48-76. A strange and dubious account of Patton's burial site was given in Joseph A. Waddell, Annals of Augusta County, Virginia From 1726 to 1871 (Staunton, Va.: C. Russell Caldwell, 190 I), 114, but it is almost certainly nonsense. Waddell wrote: "He [Patton] was buried near the spot where he 'resigned his last breath,' and his grave was covered with loose stones. There is no slab or inscription. An idle report arose that a large amount of money was buried with the body, and the grave was desecrated a few years ago by vand